Tag: orange

I have been on a bit of tea kick recently. I wanted to make some deep-dish strawberry pies with freeze-dried strawberries in the crust to give it more flavor and a pink color. I also decided to put a little strawberry on top for decoration. I was thinking of getting some all-natural food coloring, when I realized that was silly because matcha is naturally green. So I got some matcha for the stem work, but my mind was racing with other ways to incorporate it.

I had nearly a whole batch of matcha pie dough left, what to do? I became inspired by a tea bag I have at home. It is an orange matcha flavor. It is delicious. I had one before with lemon and matcha, which was really good, but I was intrigued more by the orange. I use lemon a lot, so I wanted to give orange a try. Feel free, though, to make this tart with lemon curd, rather than orange.

I’ve used this ricotta filling on a few tarts too, and it is very nice. I loved this tart. It had a subtle combination of flavors that worked well. I didn’t have too much matcha in the crust, so it did not taste earthy to me. The orange was present, but not in your face or overwhelming. It is not too sweet, which I really enjoyed. Something I’ve learned with watching so many baking shows, is desserts need balance and you don’t want one-note of just pure sweetness. Make it a little more complex.

I really enjoyed this tart. I would love to try it again with lemon. And it makes me want to go drink a cup of that orange matcha tea, right now!

I wanted something different from all the nut, sugar cookies I was making last week. I wanted something subtly good. Something unsuspecting. Orange is a common holiday flavor and I wanted to let it stand on its own, rather than always being paired with cranberries.

These cookies were good too. Soft. There is a hint of orange, not overpowering. Not your traditional holiday cookie. It was a nice change of pace. Maybe drizzle some white chocolate on it. Or some finely chopped macadamia nuts.